The Indian government will push Apple, Samsung, and other mobile phone makers to roll out system upgrades to support the country's 5G network. India officially launched the country's 5G service on October 1, local time. The country's telecom operator Reliance Jio will provide the service in four cities, while rival Bharti Airtel will provide it in eight cities. Both companies said the service will expand over the next year.
But according to three industry sources and Airtel's website, Apple's iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 14, and many of Samsung's flagship phones do not currently support 5G networks in India.
Top bureaucrats in India's telecom and IT sectors are concerned, according to a government document seen by Reuters, and they will chair a meeting on Wednesday that will call on foreign companies Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi, as well as domestic telecom operator Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone Idea's smartphone executives, were present. The circular for the closed-door meeting said the agenda included holding talks, "prioritizing" and releasing system upgrades to support high-speed 5G networks.
India says the rollout of 5G in the world's largest mobile market after China will bring high-speed internet to consumers while delivering socioeconomic benefits in areas such as agriculture and health.
While telcos and smartphone companies have been discussing with each other, it will take time to resolve compatibility issues between Indian telcos' specific 5G technology and mobile phone software, industry insiders said.
Airtel's website showed on Tuesday that in its 5G compatibility section, Apple's iPhone 12 to 14 models all said "Apple has not updated the software", and many models from Samsung also do not support it, while China's Xiaomi and vivo have more than 30 models. Shows its 5G service is available. A source said that Apple is testing and validating different 5G products from Indian network providers.
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